The Collaborative International Dictionary
Bath \Bath\ (b[.a]th; 61), n.; pl. Baths (b[.a][th]z). [AS. b[ae][eth]; akin to OS. & Icel. ba[eth], Sw., Dan., D., & G. bad, and perh. to G. b["a]hen to foment.]
The act of exposing the body, or part of the body, for purposes of cleanliness, comfort, health, etc., to water, vapor, hot air, or the like; as, a cold or a hot bath; a medicated bath; a steam bath; a hip bath.
Water or other liquid for bathing.
A receptacle or place where persons may immerse or wash their bodies in water.
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A building containing an apartment or a series of apartments arranged for bathing.
Among the ancients, the public baths were of amazing extent and magnificence.
--Gwilt. (Chem.) A medium, as heated sand, ashes, steam, hot air, through which heat is applied to a body.
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(Photog.) A solution in which plates or prints are immersed; also, the receptacle holding the solution.
Note: Bath is used adjectively or in combination, in an obvious sense of or for baths or bathing; as, bathroom, bath tub, bath keeper.
Douche bath. See Douche.
Order of the Bath, a high order of British knighthood, composed of three classes, viz., knights grand cross, knights commanders, and knights companions, abbreviated thus: G. C. B., K. C. B., K. B.
Russian bath, a kind of vapor bath which consists in a prolonged exposure of the body to the influence of the steam of water, followed by washings and shampooings.
Turkish bath, a kind of bath in which a profuse perspiration is produced by hot air, after which the body is washed and shampooed.
Bath house, a house used for the purpose of bathing; -- also a small house, near a bathing place, where a bather undresses and dresses.
Wikipedia
A Turkish bath (, ) is the Islamic variant of the Roman bath, steambath, sauna, or Russian banya, distinguished by a focus on water, as distinct from ambient steam.
In Western Europe, the "Turkish bath" as a method of cleansing and relaxation became popular during the Victorian era. The process involved in taking a Turkish bath is similar to that of a sauna, but is more closely related to ancient Greek and ancient Roman bathing practices.
The Turkish bath starts with relaxation in a room (known as the warm room) that is heated by a continuous flow of hot, dry air, allowing the bather to perspire freely. Bathers may then move to an even hotter room (known as the hot room) before they wash in cold water. After performing a full body wash and receiving a massage, bathers finally retire to the cooling-room for a period of relaxation.
The difference between the Islamic hammam and the Victorian Turkish bath is the air. The hot air in the Victorian Turkish bath is dry; in the Islamic hammam the air is often steamy. The bather in a Victorian Turkish bath will often take a plunge in a cold pool after the hot rooms; the Islamic hammam usually does not have a pool unless the water is flowing from a spring. In the Islamic hammams the bathers splash themselves with cold water.
The Victorian Turkish bath was described by Johann Ludwig Wilhelm Thudichum in a lecture to the Royal Society of Medicine given in 1861, one year after the first Victorian Turkish bath was opened in London:
A Turkish bath is the Turkish variant of a steam bath.
Turkish Bath may also refer to:
- The Turkish Bath, 1862 painting by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres
- Steam: The Turkish Bath, or Hamam, 1997 film
- Darghouth Turkish Bath, Turkish bath in Tripoli, Libya
- It is sometimes used (including on advertising) as the English translation of Thai Ab Ob Nuat bath and massage.
- In the past, it was used in Japan for what are now called soaplands, in essence brothels offering bath and massage services.
Usage examples of "turkish bath".
The atmosphere was like a Turkish bath without the heat, a lazy, draped feeling to everything, steam curling off pots of wax.
For years and years I have dreamed of the wonders of the Turkish bath.
A cloth expert in a great department store turned his knowledge on the tiny bit of scarlet for the illumination of Hatch, but he could go no further than to say that it seemed to be part of a Turkish bath robe.
It came equipped with a rubber tube intended to vent the waste steam when jammed under a convenient sash-window, but Sybil had been delighted to hear that it had turned Madame's drawing-room into a Turkish bath.
It came equipped with a rubber tube intended to vent the waste steam when jammed under a convenient sashwindow, but Sybil had been delighted to hear that it had turned Madame's drawingroom into a Turkish bath.
The gym shoes of the chief attendant, followed by the slapping feet, came down the corridor outside the plastic curtain of the massage room and on to the end room of all, the electric Turkish bath.
Bond waited a moment and then came out of the shower room and softly opened the door to the Turkish bath.
I pushed into a Turkish Bath and surprised a faggot brandishing a deformed erection in the steam room and strangled him straightaway with a soapy towel.
I'm about eight blocks from the office, at the Turkish bath that's right up the avenue.
At first he could see nothing, he thought his eyes were gone, there was only a misty vapour swimming across his eyes, and then suddenly he knew it was a misty vapour, and he remembered that the stone floor was covered in six inches of water and the entire cellar festooned with steam pipes: the steaming, humid heat, worse by far than any Turkish bath he had ever known, was part of the treatment.
I had had a hard day, and the inside of Abdullah was like a Turkish bath.
He made his way down to F Deck, where he had made love to Esme in the Turkish bath.